Johnny
Johnny & Associates, Inc. (株式会社ジャニーズ事務所, Kabushikigaisha Janizu Jimusho) is a talent agency formed by Johnny Kitagawa in 1962. Johnny & Associates trains and promotes groups of male idols, collectively known as "Johnny's" (ジャニーズ, Janizu), in Japan. History 1962–1989 In 1962, Kitagawa launched his first group called Johnnys. However, it was not until 1968 did he see his first real success with Four Leaves. Since then, Kitagawa has formed many successful acts such as solo artist Masahiko Kondo, whose song "Orokamono" (愚か者,;;; Fool) won the Japan Record Award at the 29th Japan Record Awards in 1987, and Hikaru Genji, which became the first Johnny's group to achieve the rare feat of having three top-selling singles on the Japanese Oricon yearly charts in 1988. 1990–2009 Beginning in the 1990s, Johnny & Associates adopted a policy that they would decline the nominations of awards from organizations such as the Japan Record Awards and the Japan Academy Awards partly due to a dispute with the accurate music genre of one of their groups in the 32nd Japan Record Awards. Another reason was that the nominations would cause competition between Johnny's groups and other nominees. 1991 saw the debut of SMAP and their expansion into many other areas of entertainment such as hosting their own regular television and radio shows, appearing in commercials and acting in dramas and movies. Due to their omnipresence on television, SMAP gained popularity and their 2003 single "Sekai ni Hitotsu Dake no Hana" (世界に一つだけの花, "A Flower Unlike Any Other in the World") sold over 2.57 million copies and became the ninth best-selling single in Japan. In 1997, the agency started its own record label "Johnny's Entertainment". In 1999, the Japanese weekly magazine Shukan Bunshun ran a series of articles alleging that adolescent boy clients of the agency had been sexually abused and coerced into drinking alcohol and smoking tobacco. In response, Johnny's agency sued the magazine's publisher, Bungeishunjū. In 2002, the Tokyo District Court awarded the agency ¥8.8 million in damages from the publisher. Bungeishunjū appealed the decision to the Tokyo High Court. The high court reduced the damages to ¥1.2 million, concluding that the allegations of sexual exploitation were true, but that the reports of drinking and smoking were defamatory. 2010–present On November 19, 2010, Masahiko Kondo was elected as the winner of the award for the "Best Vocal Performance" at the 52nd Japan Record Award, becoming the agency's first winner of awards from the Japan Record Award in 20 years since Ninja, which rejected a live performance for an award in 1990. On February 28, 2011, it was reported that Johnny's Entertainment had lifted the picture ban on their official website. Johnny’s Company is known to be the most strict company of not allowing any of their Johnny’s celebrity pictures in any sites. But recently, pictures of Johnny’s celebrity has appeared at their own site “Johnny’s net“. From the tab “Artist”, you can choose the Johnny’s artist you want to see and click “Profile” to go to the profile page. Though the pictures are small, they definitely have pictures of the artist from Smap, Arashi, V6 to Hey Say Jump on the pages. In response to the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami that has devastated much of northern Japan, Johnny's Entertainment has cancelled or postponed 18 of its upcoming concerts including those of Yamashita Tomohisa and Tackey & Tsubasa. Power generators and transporter trucks as well as two thousand litres of gasoline that would have been used at the concerts have instead been donated to the relief effort. Johnny's Entertainment members Takizawa Hideaki, Imai Tsubasa and Nakayama Yuma travelled with the trucks to see the disaster areas first hand. A manager at the company has announced the intention to release a charity single which is expected to involve every act signed with Johnny's Entertainment. It was announced on the 29th that Johnny’s Company is going to start a new charity project called “'Marching J'“, a fundraising project for the Touhoku Earthquake victims. The first part of the project will start as an event which will be held from April 1 through April 3. From the company, SMAP, Tokio, Kinki Kids, V6, Arashi, Tackey and Tsubasa, NEWS, Kanjani8, KAT-TUN, Hey! Say! JUMP and some Johnny’s Juniors are going to participate in this first event. The first event will be held at Tokyo, in front of the first Yoyogi gymnasium. The event included talk sessions as well as small a capella performances. Groups will take turns according to their schedule and will have a talk session in front of the fans, also calling out for donations for the earthquake victims. The Johnny’s Company is planning to have an event once each month and is planning to continue this once a month event for an year. The next event is planned to be held on May 29, a baseball tournament event played by Johnny’s Juniors. On September 18, 2011, it was revealed that Johnny Kitagawa has been presented with two Guinness World Record awards. Thus making him one of the most successful music producers in the world. The first award he received is for the ‘most No.1 singles produced by an individual’. He has accumulated an astounding 232 chart-topping songs (between 1974 to 2010). The second award is for the ‘most concerts produced by an individual’. Between 2000 to 2010, Johnny produced 8,419 concerts. He has produced shows for some of the top groups in JE, the concerts have an estimated attendance of 48,234,550. Release Debuted Group/ Soloist Temporary/ Special Units Artists -Curent Debuted Groups/ Solo- -Johnny's Jr.- -Others- * Still in the agency after disbanding :* From Hikaru GENJI: :: - Sato Atsuhiro :: - Uchiumi Kouji :* From Otokogumi: :: - Okamoto Kenichi :* From SMAP: :: - Nakai Masahiro :: - Kimura Takuya * Quit from the group ** From NEWS: : - Yamashita Tomohisa :: - Uchi Hiroki * Actor ** Ikuta Toma ** Kazama Shunsuke ** Yara Tomoyuki ** Hasegawa Jun ** Sano Mizuki ** Hamanaka Bunichi Former Artists / Groups Already Debuted * Johnny's * Four Leaves * Go Hiromi * Tahara Toshihiko * Shibugakitai * THE GOOD-BYE * From Otokogumi: : - Maeda Kouyou : - Narita Shouji : - Takahashi Kazuya * From Hikaru GENJI: : - Oosawa Mikio * From Hikaru GENJI / Hikaru GENJI SUPER 5: : - Morohoshi Kazumi * From Hikaru GENJI / SAY・S: : - Satou Hiroyuki * From Hikaru GENJI / Hikaru GENJI SUPER 5 / SAY・S: : - Yamamoto Junichi * From Hikaru GENJI / Hikaru GENJI SUPER 5 / SAY・S / AKIRA & KOHJI: : - Akasaka Akira * Ninja * From SMAP: : - Mori Katsuyuki * From NEWS: : - Moriuchi Takahiro Before Debuting See Johnny's Jr. page. Charity Projects -J-FRIENDS- In 1997 J-FRIENDS was created to raise money for the education of children involved in the Kobe Earthquake of 1995. It contained the members of TOKIO, V6 and KinKi Kids. In 1998 they released their 1st single. Until their disbandment in 2003 they were able to release 6 singles and held some charity concerts and events. In the end they were able to donate 874.278.322 Yen. 2004 this agency held a charity baseball game in which some of its talents took part. -Marching J- 2011 Japan was hit by 2011 Touhoku earthquake and tsunami on March 11th. All concerts and musicals their talents were going to do that month were postponed. The power generators, transport trucks, and 2,000 liters of gasoline that would have been used for their concerts were used to help supply areas in the north of Japan. Trucks each holding tons worth of goods were sent to the north. On March 30th, it was announced that the agency will release another charity project featuring all Johnny & Associates talents to help raise money for the victims. The president of Johnny & Associates, Johnny Kitagawa, came up with the name Marching J with the 'J' standing for 'Japan' and 'Johnny's'. The meaning behind the word "Marching" is that it will be "the March we will not forget" and "let’s walk together toward the recovery". Besides he also stated, that he was planning to hold a charity event every month, with a part of the profit donated to disaster relief. Their first activity was a fundraiser which was hosted in front of the First Gymnasium at the Yoyogi National Stadium from April 1st to the 3rd. The slogan of the event was use our energy without using electricity. On the 1st day, about 101.000 people came. While on the 2nd day it was about 127.000 people and on the 3rd day around 161.000 people were there. On April 7th, it was announced that SMAP’s upcoming single, “[[Not Alone ~Shiawase ni Narou yo~ (SMAP)|'not alone ~Shiawase ni Narou yo~']]”, will be released as a charity single as part of this project. On May 29th they held a charity baseball game in Tokyo Dome participated by around 200 Johnny's talents. They were seperated into 2 groups, J-White and J-Red, with Kamenashi Kazuya as the captain of J-White and Takizawa Hideaki as captain of J-Red. Nakai Masahiro came as special guest and did the first pitching, after that he participated as a J-Red player. Katori Shingo also made a guest appereance and did the first batting, but didn't join the match. The game ended with 10-9 for J-Red. The MVP went to Kamenashi Kazuya from J-White and Sakamoto Masayuki from J-Red. After that they did a small live performance. About 45,000 fans came to watch the game. On June 24th until 26th Arashi held a charity event at Tokyo Dome eith the title Arashi no "Waku Waku" Gakkou. The event contains of 5 shows. Each show was for about 2,5 hours. It was a show where each of them became teacher for 30 minutes and give a lecture while entertaining the audiences. The event brought in 200.000.000 Yen of donation money. On September 12th it was announced through Johnny's net, that starting September 15th Marching J SPECIAL MOVIE will be available to be viewed for 315 Yen per video, from which 200 Yen will be donated. On March 11th, 1 year after the Tohoku earthquake, they held another fundraising at Tokyo Dome, titled Tohoku Earthquake Reconstruction Assistance Project J/ Tokyo Dome. Around 173.000 fans came to this event. During this event they announced that they had raised a total of 826.553.991 yen ($10.020.051) and that those money will be sent towards children funds. Gunniess Record KinKi Kids was listed in the 2002 edition of the reference book Guinness World Records for 'Most consecutive No.1 singles' (13 singles at that time). Since then the duo keep extending their record. In 2011 Johnny Kitagawa, the president of the agency was given 2 Gunniess World Records, one for 'Most No.1 singles produced by an individual' with 232 singles (between 1974 to 2010) and another one for ‘Most concerts produced by an individual’ with 8419 concerts (between 2000 to 2010). His achievements, over a career commencing in 1962, have earned him the reputation as the most prolific "idol band" producer in the world. On November 19, 2012, it was announced that Johnny Kitagawa has been certificated with his 3rd Guinness Record, this time for 'Most Number of Singers who have achieved the No. 1 position Produced by an Individual' with 35 artists. Annual Musicals/Shows * PLAYZONE * SHOCK * Takizawa Enbujou * Shinshun Takizawa Kakumei * Takizawa Kabuki * SUMMARY Owned Labels *Johnny's Entertainment *J-Storm External Links * Official Website * Big in Japan: Johnny's Jimusho * Japanese Wikipedia Category:Johnny's Entertainment Category:Johnny's Entertainment Groups Category:KAT-TUN Category:Kis-My-Ft2 Category:Arashi Category:Hey! Say! JUMP Category:NYC Category:Nakayama Yuma w/ B.I.Shadow Category:Labels Category:Johnny's Jr. Category:President of Johnny & Associates